Students uncover good, bad
in summer marketing jobs
■Studentscan make money
as representatives for marketing
companies, but not without
investing a lot of time and work
By Danielle Gillespie
Oregon Daily Emerald
As summer approaches, market
ing companies are stepping up their
efforts to recruit sales representa
tives by offering students the
chance to make big money, but lots
of cash doesn’t come easy. Many of
these jobs require long hours and
lots of hard work.
Career Center Director Larry
Smith said even with the downturn
in the economy and lack of intern
ships available, he does not think
the level of student interest in these
marketing jobs has increased be
cause they require such hard work.
He said students have several rea
sons for wanting to work in these
jobs, whether for sales experience or
making money during the summer,
but only students who are interest
ed in the opportunity will pursue it.
“I don’t even think that with the
economy down that more students
will be drawn to this type of work,”
he said. “If it’s not their cup of tea,
they most likely won’t do it.”
In summer 2000, senior Alissa
Scott worked about 80 hours a week
and earned $14,000 selling books
door-to-door in Louisiana for South
western, a marketing company.
“I would recommend this to any
one. It puts life in abetter perspective
and you develop your personality,”
she said. “It’s great on your resume.”
Smith said Southwestern and
Vector Marketing Corp. are among
the most active campus recruiters
for student sales representatives.
Southwestern has worked through
the Career Center for about 20 years
to recruit students for selling books
in the United States.
Vector Marketing offers students
a chance to sell Cutco Cutlery, a line
of kitchen knives, in the United
States and Canada.
Tye Thompson, Southwestern
district sales manager, said repre
sentatives make an average of
$7,200. However, the money does
n’t instantly roll in the minute a stu
dent gets hired.
Thompson said representatives
must buy their own books as
demonstrations for sales, ranging
from $30 to $260 and this purchase
goes onto their account as money
they owe the company.
He said when representatives start
selling books, the money they make
will be used to pay back die company
for the demos, and the remainder goes
onto their account as earnings they
will receive at the end of the summer.
Southwestern sends representa
tives to various states and each rep
resentative is responsible for find
ing a place to live. They have the
option of riding a bike or using a car
for transportation around town
while selling books. In addition,
every Sunday representatives are
required to drive to meetings often
four hours away from where they
work. The company does not pay
for any transportation costs.
Senior Korren Hough worked for
Southwestern in summer 2000 and
earned $2,000. She said because she
had to move three times during the
summer around Mississippi and
Louisiana, it made her summer earn
ings lower than other representatives’.
“I think it was a good experience
overall, but I don’t think it’s for every
one,” she said. “I don’t think there is a
harder job and working 80 hours a
week is almost incomprehensible. ”
Vector Marketing spokeswoman
Jennifer Wright said its representa
tives make an average of $2,000 to
$5,000 in a summer.
“This job is not easy,” she said. “It
creates some degree of effort, and it
is not a job that you can just show
up at. A representative needs self
discipline.”
Wright said Vector Marketing has
a three-day training session and
does not ask its representatives to
relocate for the summer. Most rep
resentatives stay in their hometown
and can continue working at Vector
while attending school.
“The hours are really flexible,
and at the training sessions, repre
sentatives can set up a schedule for
how much money they would like
to make, and how many hours they
would need to work to meet this
goal,” Wright said.
Representatives sell products
through pre-scheduled in-home ap
pointments and are paid a base rate
of about $14 per appointment along
with commission for their sales.
The base rate pays the representa
tives for completing the presenta
tion regardless of whether they sell
the product. The company does not
pay for gasoline because represen
tatives can decide the location of
their appointments, Wright said.
“If I could offer a word of advise, it
would be to go out there expecting to
work your tail off and do exactly what
they say and you'll be fine,” Scott said.
Hough said students thinking
about doing this type of work for a
summer job need to approach it
with an open mind.
“Be expecting the worst, and it
will be better,” she said.
E-mail reporter Danielle Gillespie
atdaniellegillespie@dailyemerald.com.
2002
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